ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday ordered government to maintain status quo on a farmhouse owned by former president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf in Chak Shahzad.

The order was issued by the single-member bench of Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan on a petition filed by Sehba Musharraf.

An Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) III Judge Shahid Rafiq while hearing Benazir Bhutto assassination case had ordered confiscation of both movable and immovable property and bank accounts of Pervez Musharraf after he failed to appear before the court and was declared absconder.

His property details provided to the court by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) included the Chak Shahzad farmhouse, a 1,000-square-yard plot in Gwadar and over Rs80 million in six different banks.

Fawad Chaudhry, head of Musharraf's legal team termed the stay order as a first step towards saving the former president's property.

“We will prove that Musharraf is not an absconder and his property could not be attached or confiscated,” he claimed.

He said the FIA had provided wrong details to the ATC, adding that Musharraf had no property in Gawadar, and that there were three joint accounts of Musharraf and his spouse in banks with a total balance of Rs3.2 million, including Rs2 million of his pension.

Freezing of joint accounts of Pervez Musharraf and his spouse is beyond the court's jurisdiction, he pointed out.

According to him, IHC stay order on the transfer of ownership of farmhouse has superseded the order of ATC regarding confiscation of the farmhouse.

Following the orders of ATC regarding confiscation of the property of Musharraf, her wife Sehba Musharraf filed a civil suit in IHC to save the 5 acres' farmhouse of a value of Rs23.75 million.

She Cited Capital Development Authority (CDA), her husband former president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf, and Jamil Riffat (wife of Jamil Nishtar, the previous owner of the farm house) as defendants in the case.

Syed Nayyab Hussain Gardezi, counsel for Mrs. Musharraf told the single member bench of the IHC comprising Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan that Pervez Musharraf bought a plot at Orchard Park Road on November 10, 2003 after completing the legal requirements.

He said Musharraf had verbally gifted the farmhouse to his wife and after getting physical possession, she started the construction at the site.

He contended that on March 12, 2008, Pervez Musharraf in presence of witnesses executed the gift deed in black and white and Mrs Musharraf became the owner of the farmhouse adding that when she approached the CDA for transferring the ownership of farmhouse to her name the officials refused to do so.

He requested that the court might restrain defendants from transferring the said farmhouse to any third party.

Gardezi told Dawn that despite the attachment of Musharraf's property with the court it was still in his name and after the court's order, the status of farmhouse could not be changed.

Now Mrs. Musharraf has claimed for the ownership of the said farmhouse and a disputed property could not be attached, he added.

Chaudhry Zulfiqar, FIA special prosecutor in BB assassination case alleged the gift deed of farmhouse was not genuine.

He told Dawn that FIA prepared the property details of Musharraf with due care and accuracy.

If the gift deed of 2008 was genuine, then why Mrs. Musharraf did not initiate the process of transfer of ownership at that time, he added.